The doctors have been deployed to community health centres in Matsulu, Msogwaba and Mbombela.

Provincial Mayoral Executive Responsible for Health, Sasekani Manzini says this will minimise unnecessary hospital referrals and also improve primary healthcare services in the rural areas.

“Most of them, they are Cuban doctors trained. So, what is key on those Cubans is that they were trained in the main on primary health care. So we believe that, that would be a very good investment when you take them back to the clinic where we are saying in preparation for the National Health Insurance, we must make sure that preventative measures and treatment at the level of a primary health care, that’s what we’re strengthening and making sure that we improve in terms of making sure that our people no longer go to hospital because they are treated there, they are screened earlier and when they need treatment, they get treatment as early as possible in the comfort of the vicinity where they are coming from,” Manzini said.

–SABC–